Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and computer program

ABSTRACT

An image capturing apparatus including an image input unit configured to input an image to be captured; a face detecting unit configured to detect a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; a face-attribute detecting unit configured to detect attribute information of the detected face; a degree-of-friendliness computing unit configured to evaluate a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting unit, and outputting an evaluation value H love  representing the degree of friendliness; and an image-capturing determining unit configured to determine a timing to capture the input image based on the evaluation value H love .

CROSS REFERENCE INFORMATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 12/432,160, filed Apr. 29, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to Japanese Application No. 2008-148841, filed Jun. 6, 2008, and to Japanese Application No. 2009-016866, filed Jan. 28, 2009, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer program for capturing an image including a photographic subject, such as a person, and more particularly, to an image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer program for performing image capturing control in accordance with recognition of a specific pattern in a photographic subject included in an image.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer program for performing image capturing control on a captured image including multiple persons, and more particularly, to an image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer program for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between results of recognition of faces of multiple persons.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, in place of silver salt cameras that capture images using films or sensitive plates, digital cameras that capture images using a solid-state image pickup device in which a light receiving section with an array of pixels performing photo-electric conversion and accumulation is implemented by a photodiode, perform digital coding processing on the captured images, and saves the processed images have been widely spread. As a solid-state image pickup device, for example, a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device can be employed. For example, a CMOS sensor has advantages over a CCD sensor in that the CMOS sensor has small power consumption, the CMOS sensor is driven using a single low voltage, and the CMOS sensor is easily integrated with peripheral circuits.

The basic camera work of silver salt cameras is substantially the same as that of digital cameras. Combined with digitization of a captured image, automation has been extended to the camera work. Therefore, even an inexperienced user who is not good at operating a camera is significantly less likely to fail in capturing an image.

A major image capturing control function generally performs processing in accordance with at least one photographic subject existing in an image frame. In the past, a user manually entered settings relating to specify an important photographic subject. In recent years, an image capturing technique that employs face detection, such as detecting a face in a captured image, and automatically adjusting the focus to the detected face or automatically correcting image quality in accordance with the detected face, has been introduced. As a method of detecting a face in a captured image, for example, a method of matching an input image signal with an averaged face image serving as a template has been widely used (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-271933 (paragraphs 0051 to 0053, FIG. 9)).

Recently, research and development of automatic image capturing in which an image capturing timing is determined using detection of a specific pattern, such as a smiling face, in an image of a photographic subject has been carried out. For example, a camera that determines whether, in a part of interest included in a main photographic subject of an image to be captured, the main photographic subject satisfies a predetermined image capturing condition and, if the predetermined image capturing condition is satisfied, outputs an image capturing timing signal has been proposed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-347278, 2004-294498, and 2006-237803). Specific criteria for determining an image capturing timing include, for example, “no blinking”, “eyes are looking toward the camera”, and “smiling”, which are conditions for capturing an attractive image of a person. Photograph retouching has been done for a long time. It is difficult to retouch a photograph of a person who is blinking to make it look as if the person is not blinking, or to retouch a photograph of a person who is not smiling to make it look as if the person is smiling. These difficulties are one of the reasons why these conditions are used as criteria for determining an image capturing timing. For example, whether a photographic subject satisfies the photographic condition “smiling” can be determined on the basis of image information indicating, for example, the area of a white portion of the eyes, the horizontal length of the mouth, and the area of a white portion in the mouth of the photographic subject.

An image capturing control method of, when two or more photographic subjects are included in a captured image, performing image capturing control by performing focusing or image quality correction on the basis of a specific photographic subject determined to be a “main character” has been conceived. Intuitively, a photographic subject positioned near the center of the captured image or a photographic subject occupying a large portion of the captured image is more significant and can be estimated as a main character. For example, a face-significance determining apparatus that more accurately determines significance for a photographer by obtaining size information and position information of a face detected in an image signal, computing a first significance factor on the basis of the size information, computing a second significance factor on the basis of the position information, and computing the final degree of significance on the basis of the first and second significance factors has been proposed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-201980).

Also, an image capturing control method of, when two or more photographic subjects are included in a captured image, performing image capturing control based on the correlation between the photographic subjects is conceived. An image capturing apparatus that recognizes, for example, the faces of multiple photographic subjects, organizes the photographic subjects into groups on the basis of image capturing parameters, such as the distance between the faces of the photographic subjects and the luminance of the photographic subjects, and sets optimal image capturing parameters for the individual groups, thereby capturing an image using the optimal image capturing parameters for the individual photographic subjects has been proposed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-345254).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is desirable to provide an image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer program that can suitably perform image capturing control in accordance with recognition of a specific pattern in a photographic subject, such as a person, included in an image.

It is also desirable to provide an image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer program that can suitably perform image capturing control on a captured image including multiple persons.

It is further desirable to provide an image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer program that can suitably perform image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between results of recognition of faces of multiple persons.

According to a first embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image capturing apparatus including the following elements: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the evaluation value H_(love).

According to a second embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image capturing apparatus including the following elements: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; arrangement evaluating means for evaluating a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting an evaluation value H_(pattern) representing the evaluation result; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between the plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the evaluation values H_(pattern) and H_(love).

Recently, image capturing technology in digital cameras has been advancing. Advantages of the advancing technology include performing automatic focusing (AF) and automatic exposure (AE) by not only using an optical system, but also using digital processing.

When two or more photographic subjects are on a captured image, there is a problem that which one of the photographic subjects is a target based on which image capturing control is to be performed. For example, there is a method of performing image capturing control based on a specific photographic subject determined as a “main character”, based on whom focusing and image quality correction are performed. Also, there is a method of performing image capturing control based on the correlation between photographic subjects.

As an example of the latter method, a method of controlling the timing of a shutter by, for example, setting a self timer on the basis of the correlation regarding the arrangement of photographic subjects, such as the distance between detected faces of the photographic subjects, is conceivable. However, photographic subjects may happen to be close to each other, such as when they meet by chance. The inventors believe that no accurate image capturing control can be performed only by using the distance between detected faces. In other words, if image capturing control is performed on the basis of a single parameter, namely, the distance between detected faces, the shutter may by released at an undesired time, or the shutter may not be released at an appropriate image capturing time.

In contrast, the image capturing apparatus according to the first embodiment further includes the face-attribute detecting means for detecting various items of attribute information, such as the degree of smiling, sex, and age, from a detected face, and the degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating the degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on the correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness. The image-capturing determining means evaluates the evaluation value H_(love) and determines a timing to capture the input image. Accordingly, image capturing control can be suitably performed at a timing at which friendliness between the photographic subjects is expressed.

The image capturing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention evaluates, instead of the distance between the detected faces, the correlation between positions or angles of the detected faces, and performs image capturing control, such as setting of a shutter timing or setting of a self timer, by using an evaluation value H_(pattern) representing the evaluation result. The position pattern, the angle pattern, or the position/angle pattern indicating that the detected faces are arranged such that a photograph with a sense of togetherness can be easily captured or the detected faces are arranged to imply that the plurality of photographic subjects are good friends is prepared in advance. The arrangement evaluating means performs a comparative calculation on the correlation between positions or angles of the detected faces with the predetermined position pattern, angle pattern, or position/angle pattern based on a combination of positions and angles, and obtains the evaluation value H_(pattern). Therefore, image capturing control can be reliably realized at a timing determined to be a timing that the detected faces are arranged such that a photograph with a sense of togetherness can be easily captured, or the detected faces are arranged to imply that the photographic subjects are good friends.

Needless to say, the image capturing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention may include the face-attribute detecting means for detecting various items of attribute information, such as the degree of smiling, sex, and age, from a detected face, and the degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating the degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on the correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness. In such a case, the image-capturing determining means collectively evaluates the evaluation values H_(pattern) and H_(love) and determines a timing to capture the input image. Accordingly, image capturing control can be suitably performed at a timing at which friendliness between the photographic subjects is expressed.

The arrangement evaluating means may perform a comparative calculation on positions of the detected faces with a position pattern in which two or more detected faces are aligned at the same height or three or more detected faces are arranged on a substantially straight line and obtain the evaluation value H_(pattern). The linear position pattern may be applied as an index for expressing the degree of friendliness to a group of photographic subjects including two, three, or more persons. In particular, when a straight line rendered by connecting the detected faces of photographic subjects is horizontal, the photographic subjects with different heights might have aligned themselves so that their faces would have been at the same height. Accordingly, it can be regarded that these photographic subjects are particularly good friends.

The arrangement evaluating means may perform a comparative calculation with a position pattern based on a polygon having positions of three or more detected faces as vertices, and obtain the evaluation value H_(pattern). When a specific geometrical pattern such as a polygon is formed by connecting the detected faces of photographic subjects, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be read. Accordingly, the arrival of time to perform image capturing control can be detected. With the polygonal pattern, a photograph with a sense of togetherness can be more easily captured than with the above-described linear pattern. The alignment of the positions of photographic subjects becomes more difficult as the number of persons increases. Therefore, a strong sense of achievement can be felt when a polygonal pattern is formed.

The arrangement evaluating means may perform a comparative calculation with an angle pattern in which two detected faces face inward or multiple detected faces face a certain direction, and obtain the evaluation value H_(pattern). This is because an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be read. That is, it is estimated that the photographic subjects have become good friends, and accordingly, the arrival of time to perform image capturing control can be detected. When the angle pattern is applied to two photographic subjects, it is regarded that an intimate photograph can be captured. When the angle pattern is applied to a group of three or more persons, it is regarded that a photograph with a sense of togetherness can be captured.

The image capturing apparatus may further include velocity computing means for computing velocities at which positions of the detected faces change with time or angular-velocity computing means for computing angular velocities at which angles of the detected faces change with time. The degree-of-friendliness computing means may evaluate the degree of friendliness by further taking into consideration the velocities or the angular velocities of the detected faces. An image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be detected at a point at which the detected faces become closest to each other. Alternatively, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be detected at a point at which the inclinations of the detected faces approach inward angles.

The degree-of-friendliness computing means may evaluate the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means.

The degree-of-friendliness computing means may perform a weighted calculation of a distance between the detected faces, a difference between inclinations of the detected faces, and degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and evaluate the degree of friendliness.

The degree-of-friendliness computing means may determine a weight for the distance between the detected faces based on the moving velocities of the detected faces and attribute information detected by the face-attribute detecting means, the attribute information excluding the degrees of smiling. For example, when the characteristic that reduces the weight as the sum of the moving velocities of the detected faces becomes greater is used, control can be performed not to increase the degree of friendliness even when the distance between the detected faces is short unless changes in the detected faces are gradual. When photographic subjects meet by chance and the detected faces of the photographic subjects happen to be close to each other, the photographic subjects are not determined to be good friends.

The degree-of-friendliness computing means may determine a weight for the distance between the detected faces by taking into consideration sexes and ages detected by the face-attribute detecting means from the detected faces. For example, when a photographer receives the tip that a good photograph of two male adults can be captured when they are not so close to each other, if the faces of two male adults are detected, the weight is increased, thereby allowing the shutter to be released even when the male adults are not so close to each other.

The degree-of-friendliness computing means may determine a weight for the difference between inclinations of the detected faces based on the angular velocities of the detected faces. For example, when the characteristic that reduces the weight as the sum of the absolute values of the angular velocities of the detected faces becomes greater is used, control can be performed not to increase the degree of friendliness even when the distance between the detected faces is short unless changes in the difference between the inclinations of the detected faces are gradual.

The degree-of-friendliness computing means may determine weights for the degrees of smiling of the detected faces based on attribute information, such as sexes or ages, detected by the face-attribute detecting means, the attribute information excluding the degrees of smiling. When a smile of a child is to be weighted heavily, the value of the weight is increased only in the case of a child. When a photographer receives the tip that “males smile less frequently than females” using a statistical method and when the photographer takes this tip into consideration, if the detected face is the face of a male, the value of the weight is increased to be greater than that of a female.

The image-capturing determining means may determine the timing to capture the input image based on an evaluation value H obtained by a weighted calculation of the evaluation values H_(pattern) and H_(love). The image-capturing determining means may determine respective weights α and β for the evaluation values H_(pattern) and H_(love), in accordance with a current image capturing mode.

According to a third embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image capturing apparatus including the following elements: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; display means for displaying the input image on a screen; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness; animation control means for controlling an animated cartoon to be displayed on the screen of the display means in accordance with the level of the evaluation value H_(love); and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the evaluation value H_(love).

According to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer program written in a computer-readable format to execute processing for performing image capturing control by using a computer, the computer program causing the computer to function as: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the evaluation value H_(love).

According to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer program written in a computer-readable format to execute processing for performing image capturing control by using a computer, the computer program causing the computer to function as: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; arrangement evaluating means for evaluating a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting an evaluation value H_(pattern) representing the evaluation result; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between the plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the evaluation values H_(pattern) and H_(love).

According to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer program written in a computer-readable format to execute processing for performing image capturing control by using a computer, the computer program causing the computer to function as: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; display means for displaying the input image on a screen; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting an evaluation value H_(love) representing the degree of friendliness; animation control means for controlling an animated cartoon to be displayed on the screen of the display means in accordance with the level of the evaluation value H_(love); and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the evaluation value H_(love).

The computer programs according to the fourth to sixth embodiments of the present invention are the definitions of computer programs written in a computer-readable format to realize predetermined processing by using a computer. In other words, by installing the computer programs according to the fourth to sixth embodiments of the present invention into a computer, cooperative operation is exerted on the computer, and operations and advantages similar to those achieved by the image capturing apparatuses according to the first to third embodiments can be achieved.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an excellent image capturing apparatus, an excellent image capturing method, and an excellent computer program that can suitably perform image capturing control in accordance with recognition of a specific pattern of photographic subjects, such as persons, included in an image can be provided.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an excellent image capturing apparatus, an excellent image capturing method, and an excellent computer that can suitably perform image capturing control on a captured image including multiple persons can be provided.

When an image capturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention captures an image including multiple photographic subjects, the image capturing apparatus detects a plurality of face recognition parameters, such as the degree of smiling, the position in an image frame, the inclination of the detected face, and an attribute such as sex of each photographic subject, from the individual photographic subjects, and, on the basis of the correlation among the detected face recognition parameters, suitably performs image capturing control such as determining of a shutter timing and setting of a self timer.

The image capturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can display, when an image including multiple photographic subjects is to be captured, an animated cartoon on a screen for assisting the photographic subjects in performing an operation to shorten the distance between the photographic subjects or to enhance the degrees of smiling in accordance with the degree of friendliness evaluated between the photographic subjects. Furthermore, the image capturing apparatus can display, on a screen, an animated cartoon that visually represents the level of the evaluation value of the degree of friendliness when the evaluation value of the degree of friendliness reaches a predetermined threshold and the timing to capture an input image is determined.

According to the image capturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a human relationship between the photographic subjects can be determined by performing statistical processing, such as taking the time average, of evaluation values H_(love) of the degree of friendliness that are computed over a predetermined degree-of-friendliness determining period. For example, a decoration in accordance with the determined human relationship between the photographic subjects may be added to a captured image. The determined human relationship between the photographic subjects may be recorded as additional information such as exchangeable image file format (Exif) of the captured image.

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hardware structure of a digital still camera according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a functional structure of a system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating, using a degree-of-friendliness computing unit, a procedure of a degree-of-friendliness computing process in which the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects is represented by an evaluation value called a “degree of friendliness”;

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a functional structure of a system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6A is an illustration of a position pattern applicable as an index that represents the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects;

FIG. 6B is an illustration of a position pattern applicable as an index that represents the degree of friendliness among photographic subjects;

FIG. 6C is an illustration of a position pattern applicable as an index that represents the degree of friendliness among photographic subjects;

FIG. 6D is an illustration of a position pattern applicable as an index that represents the degree of friendliness among photographic subjects;

FIG. 6E is an illustration of a position pattern applicable as an index that represents the degree of friendliness among photographic subjects;

FIG. 7A is an illustration of an angle pattern applicable as an index that represents the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects;

FIG. 7B is an illustration of an angle pattern applicable as an index that represents the degree of friendliness among photographic subjects;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the manner in which a velocity computing unit tracks position information of each photographic subject detected by a face detecting unit in a time-sequential manner;

FIG. 9 is an illustration of the manner in which an angular-velocity computing unit tracks angle information of each photographic subject detected by the face detecting unit in a time-sequential manner;

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an example of the correlation between detected faces determined to have a high degree of friendliness;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects;

FIG. 12 is an illustration of the coordinates (x, y) of the position, width w, and height h of a detected face in a captured image (displayed on a monitor display);

FIG. 13 is an illustration of the inclination of a detected face in a captured image (displayed on the monitor display);

FIG. 14A is an illustration of position information of a triangular pattern;

FIG. 14B is an illustration of position information of a rectangular pattern;

FIG. 15A is an illustration of angle information of an angle pattern in which two photographic subjects face inward;

FIG. 15B is an illustration of angle information of an angle pattern in which multiple photographic subjects face a certain direction;

FIG. 16 is an illustration of position/angle information of a position/angle pattern;

FIG. 17 is an illustration of the manner in which two items of position information D_a(x, y) and D_b(x, y) of detected faces of two photographic subjects a and b move from a time t_(u-1) to a time t_(u);

FIG. 18 is an illustration of the manner in which two items of angle information A_a(roll, yaw, pitch) and A_b(roll, yaw, pitch) of detected faces of two photographic subjects a and b move from the time t_(u-1) to the time t_(u);

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of a degree-of-friendliness computing process in which the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects is represented by an evaluation value called a “degree of friendliness”;

FIG. 20A is a graph illustrating a characteristic of a function F₁ for determining a weight m₁ for a score value S₁ on the basis of a relative distance d between detected faces A and B;

FIG. 20B is a graph illustrating a characteristic of a function F₁ for determining a weight m₁ for a score value S₁ on the basis of a relative distance d between detected faces A and B;

FIG. 21A is a graph illustrating a characteristic of a function F₂ for determining a weight m₂ for a score value S₂ on the basis of a relative distance d between detected faces A and B;

FIG. 21B is a graph illustrating a characteristic of a function F₂ for determining a weight m₂ for a score value S₂ on the basis of a relative distance d between detected faces A and B;

FIG. 22A is a diagram illustrating, using the degree-of-friendliness computing unit, another example of a procedure of a degree-of-friendliness computing process;

FIG. 22B is a diagram illustrating a function of scaling a relative distance d between photographic subjects to [0, 1];

FIG. 22C is a diagram illustrating a specific pattern in which detected faces A and B are beside each other;

FIG. 22D is a diagram illustrating a specific pattern in which detected faces A and B are beside each other;

FIG. 22E includes diagrams illustrating a function of scaling degrees of smiling of photographic subjects to [0, 1];

FIG. 23 is a diagram for describing a method of determining the pattern of inclination of a detected face;

FIG. 24 is a is a schematic diagram illustrating a functional structure of a system according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 24;

FIG. 26A is a diagram illustrating a distance d between photographic subjects;

FIG. 26B is a graph illustrating a function for obtaining an evaluation value f1 on the basis of a distance d between photographic subjects;

FIG. 27A is a diagram illustrating an example of the degrees of smiling of two photographic subjects A and B;

FIG. 27B is a graph illustrating a function for obtaining an evaluation value f1 on the basis of a distance d between photographic subjects;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an animated cartoon that is displayed when the distance between photographic subjects is too long and that is for assisting the photographic subjects in shortening the distance between the photographic subjects;

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an animated cartoon that is displayed when the distance between photographic subjects is too long and that is for assisting the photographic subjects in smiling more than they do now;

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a display example of assisting information in the case where an evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness is low;

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a display example of assisting information in the case where the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness is high;

FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram illustrating a functional structure of a system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 33A is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 32;

FIG. 33B is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 32;

FIG. 34 is a graph illustrating a function Q for quantizing the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness;

FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating a table describing the correspondence among a friendliness level, a threshold, and an icon type; and

FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for determining the human relationship between photographic subjects by using a human-relationship determining unit in accordance with Table 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a hardware structure of a digital still camera 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The digital still camera 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes an image pickup device 11, an analog front end (AFE) unit 12, and a camera digital signal processing (DSP) unit 16. The digital still camera 1 performs digital processing of an image input via an optical system 10 and records the processed image.

The optical system 10 includes a lens for collecting light reflected from a photographic subject onto an image pickup face of the image pickup device 11, a drive mechanism for performing focusing and zooming by moving the lens, a shutter mechanism for allowing light reflected from the photographic subject to be incident on the image pickup device 11 for a predetermined time by performing an open/close operation, and an iris mechanism for limiting the direction and the range of light beams reflected from the photographic subject. The lens, the drive mechanism, the shutter mechanism, and the iris mechanism are not illustrated in the drawings. A driver 10 a controls driving of each mechanism in the optical system 10 on the basis of a control signal from a central processing unit (CPU) 29, which will be described later. That is, the driver 10 a controls, for example, focusing on a photographic subject, the iris, the timing of the shutter, or setting of a self timer.

The image pickup device 11 is implemented by, for example, a CCD or a CMOS device. The image pickup device 11 has the image pickup face on which pixels having a photo-electric conversion effect are arranged two-dimensionally. The image pickup device 11 converts incident light reflected from a photographic subject into an electric signal. For example, a green (G)-checkered red/blue (RB)-color coding single plate is arranged on a light receiving side of the image pickup device 11. Signal electric charge corresponding to the amount of incident light passed through each color filter is stored in each pixel, and the color of the incident light at the pixel position can be reproduced on the basis of the amounts of signal electric charge of three colors, which are read from the pixel. An analog image signal output from the image pickup device 11 is a primary color signal of R, G, and B colors. However, this analog image signal may be a complementary color signal.

The AFE unit 12 includes a correlated double sampling (CDS)/automatic gain control (AGC)/analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) block 13, a timing generator 14, and a V driver 15 and is implemented as, for example, a single integrated circuit (IC) chip.

The CDS/AGC/ADC block 13 highly accurately suppresses signal low noise in a pixel signal received from the image pickup device 11, performs correlated double sampling (CDS), sampling-and-holding, automatic gain control (AGC) for applying appropriate gain control, and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), thereby outputting a digital image signal.

The timing generator 14 generates a timing pulse signal for driving the image pickup device 11. The V driver 15 outputs a driving signal in accordance with the timing pulse signal so that the electric charge of each pixel in the image pickup device 11 can be output on a line-by-line basis in the vertical direction.

The camera DSP unit 16 includes a camera-signal processing unit 17, a resolution converter 18, an image codec processing unit 19, a memory control unit 20, a display control unit 21, and a media control unit 22 and is implemented as, for example, a single IC chip.

The camera-signal processing unit 17 applies pre-processing, such as defective pixel correction, digital clamping, and digital gain control, to an image signal sent from the AFE unit 12. Then, the camera-signal processing unit 17 applies white balance gain control using automatic white balance (AWB) and applies image quality correction, such as sharpness/saturation contrast adjustment, flash control, and red-eye reduction, to the image signal, thereby reproducing an appropriate color state. The camera-signal processing unit 17 further performs demosaicing to generate an RGB image signal. By applying gamma (γ) correction to the RGB image signal, the camera-signal processing unit 17 can convert the RGB image signal into a grayscale signal suitable for the image information to be output from a monitor, to be printed, or to be recorded.

The resolution converter 18 converts the size of the captured image depending on whether to display and output the captured image as a through image on a monitor display 25 or to save the captured image on a recording medium.

The image codec processing unit 19 converts the image signal in the RGB color system into an image signal including a luma component (Y) and chroma components (Cr/Cb), and then applies coding compression processing, such as Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) compression or Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) compression, to the image signal in the YUV color system. By converting the color space from RGB to YUV, data compression becomes easier to deal with since the human eyes' visibility characteristics are such that the resolving power is higher for luminance than for color.

The memory control unit 20 controls an access operation for reading or writing data, such as captured image information, from or to a memory device 24 implemented by, for example, a synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM).

The media control unit 22 includes a slot for loading a removable recording medium 26, such as a Memory Stick®, and reads/writes data from/to the recording medium 26. The media control unit 22 records, for example, a captured image file held on the memory device 24 onto the recording medium 26.

The monitor display 25 is implemented by, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a thin display panel of another type. The display control unit 21 controls driving of the monitor display 25 and converts image data (through image) output from the camera-signal processing unit 17, image data held on the memory device 24, or image data read from the recording medium 26 and decoded by the image codec processing unit 19 into a signal to be displayed on the monitor display 25 and outputs the signal to the monitor display 25.

A touch sensor is provided on the surface of the monitor display 25, and accordingly, the monitor display 25 serves also as a touch panel. Coordinates recognized by the touch panel are the same as coordinates displayed on a display screen of the monitor display 25. Therefore, a photographer can directly specify, on the display screen of the monitor display 25, a photographic subject to be subjected to smile detection or another graphical user interface (GUI) component.

Besides the fact that a through image is displayed on the monitor display 25, a menu screen, various setting screens, and various items of warning information are combined in accordance with a request from a control unit 27 described later, and the combined information is displayed and output as an “on screen display” (OSD). In an embodiment of the present invention, the degree of friendliness between multiple photographic subjects is evaluated when an image including the multiple photographic subjects is to be captured. An animated cartoon for assisting the photographic subjects in performing an operation to shorten the distance between the photographic subjects or to enhance degrees of smiling is displayed on a screen. An animated cartoon that visually represents the level of the evaluation value of the degree of friendliness is displayed on a screen displaying a captured image. Furthermore, the human relationship between the photographic subjects can be determined by performing statistical processing, such as taking the average of degrees of friendliness over a predetermined degree-of-friendliness determining period. A decoration in accordance with the human relationship may be displayed on a screen displaying a captured image. A process of displaying such an animated cartoon or a decoration will be described in detail later.

The camera DSP unit 16 is connected to the control unit 27 via a bus interface unit (BIU) (operation unit) 23. The control unit 27 includes a user interface (UI) unit 28, the CPU 29, which controls the overall operation of the entire apparatus in accordance with a user operation, a random-access memory (RAM) 30 serving as a main storage memory for the CPU 29, and an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) 31 that holds program code and apparatus information in a non-volatile manner.

The CPU 29 performs image capturing control in accordance with the recognition of a specific pattern in a photographic subject, such as a person, included in an image included in a captured image (image frame developed on the memory device 24). In the present embodiment, image capturing control is suitably performed on the basis of the correlation between the results of recognition of faces of multiple persons recognized in the image. The image capturing control will be described in detail later. The CPU 29 also performs GUI processing for displaying an OSD on the monitor display 25.

The UI unit 28 has an operation function for allowing a user to enter instructions and an output function as in a loudspeaker or a light-emitting diode (LED) lamp. The UI unit 28 has, as the operation function, for example, a shutter key button and keys and a dial for entering various settings, such as turning on/off of a flash. A control signal in accordance with a user operation entered using these keys or the like is input to the CPU 29. Using the output function, the UI unit 28 outputs a sound, such as an alarm, or emits light or flashes light using the LED, thereby sending information regarding camera work as a feedback to a user. A flash emitting unit 32 emits a flash of light in accordance with flash control information from the control unit 27.

In the digital still camera 1, light is received at the image pickup device 11 and is converted into an electric signal. The electric signal is sequentially supplied to the AFE unit 12, which applies CDS processing and AFE processing to the electric signal and then converts the processed electric signal into a digital signal. The camera-signal processing unit 17 performs image quality correction on the digital image signal supplied from the AFE unit 12 and finally converts the image-quality-corrected digital image signal into a signal having a luma component (Y) and chroma components (R-Y and B-Y), and outputs the signal. Image data output from the camera-signal processing unit 17 is converted by the display control unit 21 into an image signal to be displayed, and a through image is displayed on the monitor display 25.

Nowadays, digital cameras with the face recognition function are becoming more and more general. The digital still camera 1 according to the present embodiment performs image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between the results of recognition of faces of multiple persons recognized in an image.

The correlation between multiple photographic subjects can be estimated on the basis of, for example, the distance between the photographic subjects. For example, a method of controlling the timing of a shutter by setting a self timer on the basis of the correlation regarding the arrangement of photographic subjects, such as the distance between detected faces, is conceivable. However, photographic subjects may happen to be close to each other, such as when they meet by chance. The inventors believe that no accurate image capturing control can be performed only by using the distance between detected faces. In other words, if image capturing control is performed on the basis of a single parameter, namely, the distance between detected faces, the shutter may by released at an undesired time, or the shutter may not be released at an appropriate image capturing time.

Therefore, when capturing an image including multiple photographic subjects, the digital still camera 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention detects, from the individual photographic subjects, a plurality of face recognition parameters including the degree of smiling, the position in an image frame, the inclination of the detected face, and an attribute such as sex of each photographic subject, and, on the basis of the correlation among the detected face recognition parameters, performs image capturing control. Specifically, the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects can be represented by a numeral which may be called a “degree of friendliness” on the basis of the distance between detected faces and the degree of smiling and inclination of each face. If the calculated degree of friendliness exceeds a predetermined threshold, image capturing control is activated to determine the shutter timing, set the self timer, or the like.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a functional structure of a system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated system includes a face detecting unit 101, a face-attribute detecting unit 102, a degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103, and an image-capturing determining unit 104.

The face detecting unit 101 detects a face region in an image to be processed (such as a captured image written on the memory device 24). The face detecting unit 101 outputs, as the face detection result, the position (XY coordinates in the image) of the detected face of each photographic subject detected in the image, the size (width and height) of the detected face, and the posture (inclinations about the roll, pitch, and yaw rotation axes) of the detected face. For example, a face detecting apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-133637, which has already been assigned to the assignee of the present invention, can be employed.

The face-attribute detecting unit 102 detects attribute information of each detected face detected by the face detecting unit 101 in an image to be processed. The attribute information stated here includes the degree of smiling, sex, age, and race of the detected face. The face-attribute detecting unit 102 outputs attribute values indicating these items of attribute information of each detected face. For example, the face-attribute detecting unit 102 can be implemented by a target detecting apparatus that can be obtained by performing ensemble learning using a determining device including multiple determining units, which employ a statistical learning algorithm such as Adaboost. For the details of a target detecting apparatus of this type, please see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-157679, which has already been assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Note that the processes performed with the face detecting unit 101 and the face-attribute detecting unit 102 may be implemented as software executed by the CPU 29, or may be implemented as internal or external dedicated hardware (processing engine).

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 performs computing to represent the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects as an evaluation value H_(love) called a “degree of friendliness” on the basis of the position, size, and angle information of each detected face, which are output from the face detecting unit 101, and the degree of smiling and other face attribute information output from the face-attribute detecting unit 102. For example, when two detected faces, which are close to each other, face each other (i.e., the normal vectors of the detected faces intersect near each other's face), and when the degrees of smiling of the detected faces are high, it is determined that the degree of friendliness is high, and accordingly, image capturing control is performed (a parameter output from the face-attribute detecting unit 102 is used to indicate a degree of smiling). A degree-of-friendliness computing process will be described in detail later.

The image-capturing determining unit 104 determines the correlation between the photographic subjects on the basis of the evaluation value indicating the degree of intimacy between the photographic subjects, namely, the degree of friendliness H_(love), which is output from the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103, and determines whether to activate image capturing control such as determining of the shutter timing or setting of the self timer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 2.

Detected data obtained by the face detecting unit 101 is read out (step S1). It is determined whether multiple faces have been detected (step S2). When the check result is affirmative, the flow proceeds to a subsequent process for performing image capturing determination.

Next, attribute information, such as a degree of smiling, of each detected face is read out from the face-attribute detecting unit 102 (step S3). The attribute information is input to the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103, and a computing request for the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 is issued (step S4). The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 computes the evaluation value indicating the degree of intimacy between the photographic subjects, namely, the degree of friendliness H_(love), on the basis of the attribute information of each detected face. For example, when two photographic subjects are beside each other so that their faces are directed to and close to each other and the degrees of smiling of their faces are high, it is determined that the degree of friendliness is high, and image capturing control is performed. The degree-of-intimacy computing process will be described in detail later.

An evaluation-value computing request is issued for the image-capturing determining unit 104 (step S5). On the basis of the degree of friendliness H_(love) output from the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103, the image-capturing determining unit 104 computes an evaluation value H for determining whether to activate image capturing control such as determining of the shutter timing or setting of the self timer.

When the evaluation value H exceeds a predetermined threshold (YES in step S6), the CPU 29 issues an instruction for the driver 10 a to control the shutter timing or the self timer setting (step S7).

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 outputs a high degree of friendliness when two photographic subjects are beside each other so that their faces are directed to and close to each other and the degrees of smiling of their faces are high. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating, using the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103, a procedure of a degree-of-friendliness computing process in which the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects is represented by an evaluation value called a “degree of friendliness”. In FIG. 4, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that photographic subjects whose faces have been detected are two persons, A and B.

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 can use, as input parameters, position information, size (i.e., width and height), and angle information (the rotation angles about the roll, yaw, and pitch axes) of the detected faces A and B, which are detection results obtained by the face detecting unit 101, and the degrees of smiling and other attribute information of the detected faces A and B, which are detection results obtained by the face-attribute detecting unit 102.

The relative distance d between the detected faces A and B is represented as by how many faces the detected faces A and B are away from each other and is computed by:

$\begin{matrix} {d = {\frac{\sqrt{\left( {X_{a} - X_{b}} \right)^{2}}}{\left( {W_{a} + W_{b}} \right)/2} + \frac{\sqrt{\left( {Y_{a} - Y_{b}} \right)^{2}}}{\left( {H_{a} + H_{b}} \right)/2}}} & (1) \end{matrix}$ The computed relative distance d is scored or normalized as illustrated in FIG. 4, thereby computing a first score S₁.

It is also assumed that the difference r between the inclinations of the detected faces A and B is the difference between the absolute values of the inclinations R_(a) and R_(b) of the roll axis of the detected faces A and B (the absolute values are used in order to regard the opposite inclinations, such as +30 degrees and −30 degrees, as the same inclination), and is computed by: r=∥R _(a) |−|R _(b)∥  (2) The difference r between the inclinations of the detected faces is scored or normalized as illustrated in FIG. 4, thereby computing a second score S₂.

Also, the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the detected faces A and B are scored or normalized as illustrated in FIG. 4, thereby computing a third score S₃ and a fourth score S₄.

The obtained score values Si are summed using the following equation, thereby obtaining an evaluation value H_(love), which is then output to the image-capturing determining unit 104: H_(love)=ΣS_(i)  (3)

FIG. 22A illustrates, using the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103, another example of a procedure of a degree-of-friendliness computing process. In FIG. 22A, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that photographic subjects whose faces have been detected are two persons A and B.

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 uses, as input parameters, position information (X_(a), Y_(a)) and (X_(b), Y_(b)), size (i.e., width W_(a) and W_(b) and height H_(a) and H_(b)), and angle information (the rotation angles about the roll, yaw, and pitch axes) of the detected faces A and B, which are detection results obtained by the face detecting unit 101, and the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) and other attribute information of the detected faces A and B, which are detection results obtained by the face-attribute detecting unit 102.

The relative distance d between the detected faces A and B is represented as by how many faces the detected faces A and B are away from each other and is computed by:

$\begin{matrix} {d = \frac{\sqrt{\left\{ {\left( {X_{a} + \frac{W_{a}}{2}} \right) - \left( {X_{b} + \frac{W_{b}}{2}} \right)} \right\}^{2} + \left\{ {\left( {Y_{a} + \frac{H_{a}}{2}} \right) - \left( {Y_{b} + \frac{H_{b}}{2}} \right)} \right\}^{2}}}{\left( {W_{a} + W_{b}} \right)/2}} & (4) \end{matrix}$

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 scores or normalizes the relative distance d, which is computed by using equation (4), by using the following equation (5) and a function illustrated in FIG. 22A, thereby obtaining the first score S₁ scaled to [0, 1]:

$\begin{matrix} {S_{1} = \left\{ \begin{matrix} 1 & \left( {d \leq d_{threshold}} \right) \\ \frac{1}{d - d_{threshold} + 1} & \left( {d > d_{threshold}} \right) \end{matrix} \right.} & (5) \end{matrix}$

Regarding the inclinations of the detected faces A and B, unlike the processing procedure illustrated in FIG. 4, the second score S₂ scaled to [0, 1] is obtained on the basis of a combination pattern of inclinations R_(a) and R_(b) about the roll rotation axis of the detected faces A and B. First, inclinations R_(a) and R_(b) about the roll rotation axis of the detected faces A and B are sequentially measured. Here, the inclinations R_(a) and R_(b) are represented by using inclination identification numbers, as illustrated in FIG. 23. Using Table 1 or Table 2 in accordance with the size relationship between X-directional position information X_(a) and X_(b) of the detected faces A and B, a pattern determination of the inclinations R_(a) and R_(b) about the roll rotation axis of the detected faces A and B is performed.

TABLE 1 When X_(a) < X_(b) R_(a) R_(b) S₂ 1 1 0 2 1 1 . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 2 When X_(a) > X_(b) R_(a) R_(b) S₂ 1 1 0 1 2 1 . . . . . . . . .

The pattern determination result of the inclinations R_(a) and R_(b) about the roll rotation axis of the detected faces A and B is output as the second score S₂. Regardless of which Table is used, as illustrated in FIGS. 22C and 22D, when a specific pattern such that the detected faces A and B are beside each other is indicated, S₂=1; otherwise, S₂=0.

Also, the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the detected faces A and B are scored or normalized by using the following equation (6) and a function illustrated in FIG. 22E, thereby obtaining the third score S₃ and the fourth score S₃ scaled to [0, 1]:

$\begin{matrix} {S_{3},{S_{4} = \left\{ \begin{matrix} 1 & \left( {s \geq s_{threshold}} \right) \\ \frac{s}{s_{threshold}} & \left( {s < s_{threshold}} \right) \end{matrix} \right.}} & (6) \end{matrix}$

Weights m₁ to m₄ are set for the scores S₁ to S₄, respectively. It is assumed that the weights m₁ to m₄ are fixed values set by taking into consideration the significance of the individual attribute values so that the sum of the weights m₁ to m₄ becomes 100. The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 103 performs a weighted addition of the obtained score values S_(i) by using equation (7) (where i is an integer from 1 to 4), computes the obtained evaluation value H_(love) as an evaluation value, and outputs the evaluation value to the image-capturing determining unit 104. H_(love)=Σm_(i)S_(i)  (7)

A second embodiment of the present invention will now be described. In the second embodiment, as in the above-described first embodiment, the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects is computed on the basis of the distance between detected faces, the degrees of smiling of the detected faces, and the inclinations of the detected faces. Furthermore, the correlation between the positions or angles of the detected faces is evaluated, and accordingly, image capturing control is performed. That is, it is evaluated whether the arrangement of detected faces matches a position pattern, an angle pattern, or a position/angle pattern indicating that the detected faces are arranged such that a photograph with a sense of togetherness can be easily captured, or the detected faces are arranged to imply that the photographic subjects are good friends. Together with the degree of friendliness, an overall evaluation is made, and accordingly, accurate image capturing control that determines the shutter timing, sets the self timer, or the like is implemented.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a functional structure of a system for detecting, at the time of capturing an image including multiple photographic subjects, a plurality of face recognition parameters and performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between the detected face recognition parameters. The illustrated system includes a face detecting unit 201, a face-attribute detecting unit 202, a pattern detecting unit 203, a velocity computing unit 204, an angular-velocity computing unit 205, a degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206, and an image-capturing determining unit 207.

The face detecting unit 201 detects a face region in an image to be processed (such as a captured image written on the memory device 24). The face detecting unit 201 outputs, as the face detection result, the position (XY coordinates in the image) of the detected face of each photographic subject detected in the image, the size (width and height) of the detected face, and the posture (inclinations about the roll, pitch, and yaw rotation axes) of the detected face (the same as described above).

The face-attribute detecting unit 202 detects attribute information of each detected face detected by the face detecting unit 201 in an image to be processed. The attribute information stated here includes the degree of smiling, sex, age, and race of the detected face. The face detecting unit 201 outputs attribute values indicating these items of attribute information of each detected face (the same as described above). Note that the processes performed with the face detecting unit 201 and the face-attribute detecting unit 202 may be implemented as software executed by the CPU 29, or may be implemented as internal or external dedicated hardware (processing engine).

The pattern detecting unit 203 detects whether an image to be processed matches any of patterns with which an image capturing intention can be read from the arrangement of detected faces detected by the face detecting unit 201 in the image. The patterns stated here can be roughly organized into a group of position patterns between detected faces and a group of posture or angle patterns of detected faces.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate position patterns from which an image capturing intention of photographic subjects can be read.

As illustrated in FIG. 6A, when two or more detected faces are at the same height, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be read. Accordingly, the arrival of time to perform image capturing control can be detected. As illustrated in FIG. 6B, when three or more detected faces are aligned on a straight line, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be read. Accordingly, the arrival of time to perform image capturing control can be detected. Linear position patterns such as those illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B can be applied as indices for expressing degrees of friendliness to a group of photographic subjects including two, three, or more persons. In particular, when a straight line rendered by connecting the detected faces of photographic subjects is horizontal, the photographic subjects with different heights might have aligned themselves so that their faces would have been at the same height. Accordingly, it can be regarded that these photographic subjects are particularly good friends.

As illustrated in FIGS. 6C, 6D, and 6E, when three, four, or five photographic subjects form a specific geometrical pattern, such as a triangle, a rectangle, or a pentagon, having the detected faces of the photographic subjects as vertices, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be read. Accordingly, the arrival of time to perform image capturing control can be detected. Polygonal patterns such as those illustrated in FIGS. 6C, 6D, and 6E can be applied as indices for expressing degrees of friendliness to a group of photographic subjects including three or more persons. With polygonal patterns, photographs with a sense of togetherness can be more easily captured than with the above-described linear patterns. The alignment of the positions of photographic subjects becomes more difficult as the number of persons increases. Therefore, a strong sense of achievement can be felt when a polygonal pattern is formed.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate angle patterns from which an image capturing intention of photographic subjects can be read. When two detected faces face inward as illustrated in FIG. 7A, or when multiple detected faces face a certain direction as illustrated in FIG. 7B, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be read. That is, it can be estimated that the photographic subjects have developed a close relationship, and accordingly, the arrival of time to perform image capturing control can be detected. Angle patterns such as those illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B can be applied as indices for expressing degrees of friendliness to a group of photographic subjects including two, three, or more persons. When the angle patterns are applied to two photographic subjects, it can be regarded that an intimate photograph can be captured. When the angle patterns are applied to a group of three or more persons, a photograph with a sense of togetherness can be captured.

These position patterns, angle patterns, and position/angle patterns of combinations of the arrangement and angles are stored as, for example, pattern data in the EEPROM 31. By performing geometrical calculations or the like, the pattern detecting unit 203 collates the positions and posture information of detected faces with the foregoing position patterns, angle patterns, and position/angle patterns to determine whether the detected faces match any of these patterns, and outputs the result as a pattern evaluation value H_(pattern). A pattern detecting process will be described in detail later.

The velocity computing unit 204 and the angular-velocity computing unit 205 detect whether time-sequential changes in the position and time-sequential changes in the posture of the individual detected faces match any of the patterns from which an image capturing intention of photographic subjects can be read. The velocity computing unit 204 time-sequentially tracks position information of each photographic subject detected by the face detecting unit 201. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the velocity computing unit 204 sequentially measures the distance between detected faces. At a point at which the detected faces become closest to each other, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be detected. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the angular-velocity computing unit 205 sequentially detects the angle of each photographic subject. For example, at a point at which the inclination of each detected face becomes close to an inward angle, an image capturing intention of the photographic subjects can be detected. Computing processes performed by the velocity computing unit 204 and the angular-velocity computing unit 205 will be described in detail later.

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206 performs computing to represent the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects as an evaluation value H_(love) called a “degree of friendliness” on the basis of the position, size, and angle information of each detected face, which are output from the face detecting unit 201, and the degree of smiling and other face attribute information output from the face-attribute detecting unit 202. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, when two detected faces, which are close to each other, face each other (i.e., the normal vectors of the detected faces intersect near each other's face), and when the degrees of smiling of the detected faces are high, it is determined that the degree of friendliness is high, and accordingly, image capturing control is performed (a parameter output from the face-attribute detecting unit 202 is used to indicate a degree of smiling). A degree-of-friendliness computing process will be described in detail later.

The image-capturing determining unit 207 makes an overall determination on the correlation between photographic subjects on the basis of the evaluation value H_(pattern) indicating the degree of match between the correlation of multiple detected faces with a desired position pattern or angle pattern (see FIGS. 6A to 7B), which is obtained from the pattern detecting unit 203, and the evaluation value indicating the degree of intimacy between the photographic subjects, namely, the degree of friendliness H_(love), which is output from the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206, thereby determining whether to activate image capturing control such as determining of the shutter timing or setting of the self timer.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 5.

Detected data obtained by the face detecting unit 201 is read out (step S11). It is determined whether multiple faces have been detected (step S12). When the check result is affirmative, the flow proceeds to a subsequent process for performing image capturing determination.

A pattern detecting request is issued for the pattern detecting unit 203 (step S13). When the pattern detecting unit 203 obtains detected face data obtained by the face detecting unit 201, the pattern detecting unit 203 determines whether the correlation of the detected faces matches any of desired position patterns or angle patterns (see FIGS. 6A to 7B) by comparing the correlation with the desired position patterns or angle patterns. When the correlation between the detected faces matches any of the desired position patterns or angle patterns (YES in step S14), the evaluation value H_(pattern) indicating the degree of match is output to the image-capturing determining unit 207 (step S15). A computing process performed by the pattern detecting unit 203 will be described in detail later.

Next, a computing request is issued for the velocity computing unit 204 (step S16). A computing process performed by the velocity computing unit 204 will be described in detail later.

Next, a computing request is issued for the angular-velocity computing unit 205 (step S17). A computing process performed by the angular-velocity computing unit 205 will be described in detail later.

Next, attribute information, such as a degree of smiling, of each detected face is read out from the face-attribute detecting unit 202 (step S18). The attribute information is input to the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206, and a computing request is issued for the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206 (step S19). The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206 computes the evaluation value indicating the degree of intimacy between the photographic subjects, namely, the degree of friendliness H_(love), on the basis of the attribute information of each detected face. This computing process will be described in detail later.

An evaluation-value computing request is issued for the image-capturing determining unit 207 (step S20). The image-capturing determining unit 207 determines whether to activate image capturing control such as determining of the shutter timing or setting of the self timer, on the basis of the evaluation value H_(pattern) indicating the degree of match with a position pattern, an angle pattern, or a position/angle pattern, which is output from the pattern detecting unit 203, and the degree of friendliness H_(love) output from the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206.

When the evaluation value H exceeds a predetermined threshold (YES in step S21), the CPU 29 issues an instruction for the driver 10 a to control the shutter timing or the self timer setting (step S22).

Hereinafter, computing processes performed by the pattern detecting unit 203, the velocity computing unit 204, the angular-velocity computing unit 205, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206, and the image-capturing determining unit 207 will be described in detail.

In the following description, the position coordinates (x, y), width w, and height h of a detected face in a captured image (displayed on the monitor display 25) are defined as illustrated in FIG. 12. Also, the angle (inclination) of a detected face includes rotations about three axes, namely, roll, yaw, and pitch, as illustrated in FIG. 13. A position of an n-th detected face is written as D_n(x, y), and the angle of rotation thereof is written as A_n(roll, yaw, pitch).

Position-Pattern Determining Process:

A position-pattern determining process is performed, using the pattern detecting unit 203, in accordance with a pattern detecting request made in step S13 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 11.

(1) Items of position information D_n of n (n>1) detected faces (where n is an identification number indicating a person serving as a photographic subject) are obtained from the face detecting unit 201.

(2) Position pattern information subjected to determination is obtained from a storage place such as the EEPROM 31. In the following description, it is assumed that p (p≧1) items of position pattern information are obtained. Each item of position pattern information includes position information P_(pos) _(—) _(pattern) _(—) _(no) (X, y) indicating the coordinate position (x, y) of each face number for each pattern number and an evaluation value P_(val) _(—) _(pattern) for each pattern number. The fact that a polygonal pattern makes it easier to capture a photograph with a sense of togetherness has already been described. FIGS. 14A and 14B illustrate position information of a triangular pattern and position information of a rectangular pattern, respectively.

(3) The following evaluation function H_(pos) is computed p times (that is, for the individual items of position pattern information): H _(pos)(D _(—)1,D _(—)2, . . . , D _(—) n,P _(pos) _(—) _(p) ,P _(val) _(—) _(p))  (8)

In the foregoing evaluation function H_(pos), whether the positions D_1, . . . , D_n of input detected faces match the position pattern information P_(pos) _(—) _(p) is computed by performing comparisons. When it is determined that the items of position information D_n match the position pattern information P_(pos) _(—) _(p), the evaluation value P_(pos) _(—) _(p) is returned. When it is determined that the items of position information D_n do not match the position pattern information P_(pos) _(—) _(p), zero is returned.

Angle-Pattern Determining Process:

An angle-pattern determining process is performed, using the pattern detecting unit 203, in accordance with a pattern detecting request made in step S13 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 11.

(1) Items of angle information A_n of n (n>1) detected faces (where n is an identification number indicating a person serving as a photographic subject) are obtained from the face detecting unit 201.

(2) Angle pattern information subjected to determination is obtained from a storage place such as the EEPROM 31. In the following description, it is assumed that p (p≧1) items of angle pattern information are obtained. Each item of angle pattern information includes angle information P_(angle) _(—) _(pattern) _(—) _(no) (roll, yaw, pitch) indicating the angles of rotations about the roll, yaw, and pitch axes (roll, yaw, pitch) of each face number for each pattern number, and an evaluation value P_(val) _(—) _(pattern) for each pattern number. The fact that an angle pattern indicating that two photographic subjects face inward, as illustrated in FIG. 7A, or multiple photographic subjects face a certain direction, as illustrated in FIG. 7B, makes it easier to capture a photograph with a sense of togetherness has already been described. FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate angle information of an angle pattern in which two photographic subjects face inward and angle information of an angle pattern in which multiple photographic subjects face a certain direction, respectively.

(3) The following evaluation function H_(angle) is computed q times (that is, for the individual items of angle pattern information): H _(angle)(A _(—)1,A _(—)2, . . . , A _(—) n,P _(angle) _(—) _(q) ,P _(val) _(—) _(q))  (9)

In the foregoing evaluation function H_(angle), whether the angles A_1, . . . , A_n of input detected faces match the angle pattern information P_(angle) _(—) _(q) computed by performing comparisons. When it is determined that the items of angle information A_n match the angle pattern information P_(angle) _(—) _(q), the evaluation value P_(val) _(—) _(q) is returned. When it is determined that the items of position information A_n do not match the position pattern information P_(angle) _(—) _(q) zero is returned.

Position/Angle-Pattern Determining Process:

A position/angle-pattern determining process is performed, using the pattern detecting unit 203, in accordance with a pattern detecting request made in step S13 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 11.

(1) Items of position information of n (n>1) detected faces are obtained from the face detecting unit 201.

(2) Position/angle pattern information subjected to determination is obtained from a storage place such as the EEPROM 31. In the following description, it is assumed that p (p≧1) items of position/angle pattern information are obtained. Each item of position/angle pattern information includes position/angle information P_(pos&angle) _(—) _(pattern) _(—) _(no) (x, y, roll, yaw, pitch) indicating the coordinate position and the angle position (x, y, roll, yaw, pitch) of each face number for each pattern number, and an evaluation value P_(val) _(—) _(pattern) for each pattern number. FIG. 16 illustrates position/angle information of a position/angle pattern considered that would make it easier to capture a photograph with a sense of togetherness.

(3) The following evaluation function H_(pos&angle) is computed r times (that is, for the individual items of position/angle pattern information): H _(pos & angle)(D _(—)1,A _(—)1,D _(—)2,A _(—)2, . . . , D _(—) n,A _(—) n,P _(pos) _(—) _(angle) _(—) _(r) ,P _(val) _(—) _(r))  (10)

In the foregoing evaluation function H_(pos&angle), whether the positions D_1, . . . , D_n and the angles A_1, . . . , A_n of input detected faces match the position/angle pattern information P_(pos&angle) _(—) _(p) is computed by performing comparisons. When it is determined that the items of position/angle information D_n and A_n match the position/angle pattern information P_(pos&angle) _(—) _(p), the evaluation value P_(val) _(—) _(q) is returned. When it is determined that the items of position/angle information D_n and A_n do not match the position/angle pattern information P_(pos&angle) _(—) _(p), zero is returned.

Pattern Determining Process:

A pattern determining process is performed, using the pattern detecting unit 203, in accordance with a pattern detecting request made in step S13 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 11, on the basis of the results of the foregoing position-pattern determining process, angle-pattern determining process, and position/angle-pattern determining process. Specifically, as illustrated in the following equation, a pattern evaluation value H_(pattern) including the sum of the evaluation values H_(pos), H_(angle), and H_(pos&angle) of the pattern determining processes is computed, and the pattern evaluation value H_(pattern) is output to the image-capturing determining unit 207:

$\begin{matrix} {H_{pattern} = {{\sum\limits_{p = 1}^{p}H_{pos}} + {\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{q}H_{angle}} + {\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{r}H_{{{pos}\&}{angle}}}}} & (11) \end{matrix}$ Velocity Computing Process:

A velocity computing process is performed, using the velocity computing unit 204, in accordance with a computing request made in step S16 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 11. This velocity computing process determines whether time-sequential changes in the position of the individual detected faces match any of patterns from which an image capturing intention of photographic subjects can be read.

(1) Items of position information D_n of detected faces (where n is an identification number indicating a person serving as a photographic subject) at time t_(u-1) are obtained from the face detecting unit 201.

(2) The moving velocity of each detected face is computed.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of the manner in which two items of position information D_a(x, y) and D_b(x, y) of detected faces of two photographic subjects a and b move from a time t_(u-1) to a time t_(u). The moving velocities (X′a, Y′a) and (X′b, Y′b) of the detected faces in this case are computed using the following equations:

$\begin{matrix} {{\begin{pmatrix} {X^{\prime}a} \\ {Y^{\prime}a} \end{pmatrix} = {\frac{\mathbb{d}{D\_ a}}{\mathbb{d}t} = {\begin{pmatrix} \frac{\mathbb{d}x}{\mathbb{d}t} \\ \frac{\mathbb{d}y}{\mathbb{d}t} \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} \frac{{xa}_{t_{u}} - {xa}_{t_{{un} - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \\ \frac{{ya}_{t_{u}} - {ya}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \end{pmatrix}}}}{\begin{pmatrix} {X^{\prime}b} \\ {Y^{\prime}b} \end{pmatrix} = {\frac{\mathbb{d}{D\_ b}}{\mathbb{d}t} = {\begin{pmatrix} \frac{\mathbb{d}x}{\mathbb{d}t} \\ \frac{\mathbb{d}y}{\mathbb{d}t} \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} \frac{{xb}_{t_{u}} - {xb}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \\ \frac{{yb}_{t_{u}} - {yb}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \end{pmatrix}}}}} & (12) \end{matrix}$ Angular-Velocity Computing Process:

An angular-velocity computing process is performed, using the angular-velocity computing unit 205, in accordance with a computing request made in step S17 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 11. This angular-velocity computing process determines whether time-sequential changes in the angle of the individual detected faces match any of patterns from which an image capturing intention of photographic subjects can be read.

(1) Items of angle information A_n of detected faces (where n is an identification number indicating a person serving as a photographic subject) at time t_(u-1) are obtained from the face detecting unit 201.

(2) The angular velocity of each detected face is computed.

FIG. 18 is an illustration of the manner in which two items of angle information A_a(roll, yaw, pitch) and A_b(roll, yaw, pitch) of detected faces of two photographic subjects a and b move from a time t_(u-1) to a time t_(u). The angular velocities (θ_(roll′)a, θ_(yaw′)a, θ_(pitch′)a) and (θ_(roll′)b, θ_(yaw′)b, θ_(pitch′)b) of the detected faces in this case are computed using the following equations:

$\begin{matrix} {{\begin{pmatrix} {\theta_{x}^{''}a} \\ {\theta_{y}^{''}a} \\ {\theta_{z}^{''}a} \end{pmatrix} = {\frac{\mathbb{d}{A\_ a}}{\mathbb{d}t} = {\begin{pmatrix} \frac{{\mathbb{d}\theta_{x}}a}{\mathbb{d}t} \\ \frac{{\mathbb{d}\theta_{y}}a}{\mathbb{d}t} \\ \frac{{\mathbb{d}\theta_{z}}a}{\mathbb{d}t} \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} \frac{{rolla}_{t_{u}} - {rolla}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \\ \frac{{yawa}_{t_{u}} - {yawa}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \\ \frac{{pitcha}_{t_{u}} - {pitcha}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \end{pmatrix}}}}{\begin{pmatrix} {\theta_{x}^{''}b} \\ {\theta_{y}^{''}b} \\ {\theta_{z}^{''}b} \end{pmatrix} = {\frac{\mathbb{d}{A\_ b}}{\mathbb{d}t} = {\begin{pmatrix} \frac{{\mathbb{d}\theta_{x}}b}{\mathbb{d}t} \\ \frac{{\mathbb{d}\theta_{y}}b}{\mathbb{d}t} \\ \frac{{\mathbb{d}\theta_{z}}b}{\mathbb{d}t} \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} \frac{{rollb}_{t_{u}} - {rollb}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \\ \frac{{yawb}_{t_{u}} - {yawb}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \\ \frac{{pitchb}_{t_{u}} - {pitchb}_{t_{u - 1}}}{t_{u} - t_{u - 1}} \end{pmatrix}}}}} & (13) \end{matrix}$ Degree-of-Friendliness Computing Process:

A degree-of-friendliness computing process is performed, using the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206, in accordance with a computing request made in step S19 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 11.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating, using the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206, a procedure of a degree-of-friendliness computing process in which the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects is represented by an evaluation value called a “degree of friendliness”. In FIG. 19, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that photographic subjects whose faces have been detected are two persons, A and B.

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206 can use, as input parameters, position information, size (i.e., width and height), and angle information (the rotation angles about the roll, yaw, and pitch axes) of the detected faces A and B, which are detection results obtained by the face detecting unit 101, items of velocity information of the detected faces A and B, which are computing results obtained by the velocity computing unit 204, items of angular velocity information (the angular velocities about the roll, yaw, and pitch axes) of the detected faces A and B, which are computing results obtained by the angular-velocity computing unit 205, and the degrees of smiling and other attribute information of the detected faces A and B, which are detection results obtained by the face-attribute detecting unit 102.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the relative distance d between the detected faces A and B of the photographic subjects, the difference r between the inclinations of the detected faces A and B, and the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the detected faces A and B are elements for determining the degree of friendliness. Also, a weight coefficient m_(i) is allocated to each element i. In order to determine or calculate each element i and to compute a weight coefficient m_(i) for each element i, the foregoing input parameters are sorted.

It is assumed that the degrees of smiling of the detected faces A and B are degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) output from the face-attribute detecting unit 202. Also, the relative distance d between the detected faces A and B is represented as by how many faces the detected faces A and B are away from each other and is computed by:

$\begin{matrix} {d = {\frac{\sqrt{\left( {X_{a} - X_{b}} \right)^{2}}}{\left( {W_{a} + W_{b}} \right)/2} + \frac{\sqrt{\left( {Y_{a} - Y_{b}} \right)^{2}}}{\left( {H_{a} + H_{b}} \right)/2}}} & (14) \end{matrix}$

It is also assumed that the difference r between the inclinations of the detected faces A and B is the difference between the absolute values of the inclinations of the roll axis R_(a) and R_(b) of the detected faces A and B (the absolute values are used in order to regard the opposite inclinations, such as +30 degrees and −30 degrees, as the same inclination): r=∥R _(a) |−|R _(b)∥  (15)

The evaluation values of the individual elements i are scored or normalized, and the obtained score values S_(i) are summed using the individual weight coefficients m_(i) in accordance with the following equation, thereby obtaining an evaluation value H_(love), which is then output to the image-capturing determining unit 204: H_(love)=Σm_(i)S_(i)  (16)

Now, a method of computing a coefficient m_(i) by which the score value S_(i) of each element i is multiplied will be described.

A weight m₁ for the score S₁ based on the relative distance d between the detected faces A and B can be determined, as illustrated in the following equation, on the basis of a function F₁ with moving velocities of the detected faces A and B as arguments and a function G with attribute information (other than degrees of smiling) of the detected faces A and B as arguments. The moving velocity of a detected face can be obtained from the velocity computing unit 204. m ₁ =F ₁(X _(a) ′,Y _(a) ′,X _(b) ′,Y _(b)′)×G(A _(a) ,A _(b))  (17)

Here, the function F₁ is a function that has a characteristic that the function F₁ becomes smaller as the sum V₁ of the moving velocities of the detected faces A and B (see equation below) becomes greater, as illustrated in FIG. 20A or 20B. When V₁ is relatively small, that is, when changes in the positions of the detected faces A and B are not gradual, even if the distance between the detected faces A and B is small, control can be performed not to increase the degree of friendliness H_(love): V ₁=√{square root over (X _(a)′² +Y _(a)′²)}+√{square root over (X _(b)′² +Y _(b)′²)}  (18)

When attribute information A_(a) and A_(b) of the detected faces A and B are divided into, for example, sex and age (adults and children), as illustrated in Table 3 below, the value of G in accordance with a combination of the attribute information A_(a) and A_(b) can be used. Values in spaces in Table 3 can be set using various methods. For example, when a photographer receives the tip that a good photograph of two male adults can be captured when they are not so close to each other, if the faces of two male adults are detected, the weight m₁ is increased, thereby allowing the shutter to be released even when the male adults are not so close to each other.

TABLE 3 A_(b) Adults Children Male Female Male Female A_(a) Adults Male 2 1 0.5 0.5 Female 1 2 0.5 0.5 Children Male 0.5 0.5 1 1 Female 0.5 0.5 1 1

A weight m₂ for the score S₂ based on the difference between the inclinations of the detected faces A and B can be determined, as illustrated in the following equation, on the basis of a function F₂ with angular velocities of the detected faces A and B as arguments. The angular velocity of a detected face can be obtained from the angular-velocity computing unit 205. m ₂ =F ₂(θ_(roll) _(a) ′,θ_(yaw) _(a) ′,θ_(pitch) _(a) ′,θ_(roll) _(b) ′,θ_(yaw) _(b) ′,θ_(pitch) _(b) ′)  (19)

Here, the function F₂ is a function that has a characteristic that the function F₂ becomes smaller as the sum V₂ of the absolute values of the angular velocities of the detected faces A and B (see equation below) becomes greater, as illustrated in FIG. 21A or 21B. When V₂ is relatively small, that is, when changes in the inclinations of the detected faces A and B are not gradual, even if the distance between the detected faces A and B is small, control can be performed not to increase the degree of friendliness H_(love): V ₂=|θ_(roll) _(a) ′|=|θ_(yaw) _(a) ′|=|θ_(pitch) _(a) ′|=|θ_(roll) _(b) ′|=|θ_(yaw) _(b) ′|=|θ_(pitch) _(b) ′|  (20)

Weights m₃ and m₄ for the score values S_(a) and S_(b) based on the degrees of smiling of the detected faces A and B can be determined on the basis of a function F₃ with attribute information A_(a) and A_(b), such as sex and age, other than the degrees of smiling, of the detected faces A and B as arguments: m ₃(or m ₄)=F ₃(A _(a) ,A _(b))  (21)

Here, the function F₃ can be realized by referring to the following table:

TABLE 4 A_(a) Adults Male 1.5 Female 1 Children Male 2 Female 2

When a smile of a child is to be weighted heavily, the value of m₃ is increased only in the case of a child. When a photographer receives the tip that “males smile less frequently than females” using a statistical method and when the photographer takes this tip into consideration, if the detected face A is the face of a male, the value of the weight m₃ is increased to be greater than that of a female.

The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206 performs the weighted computation on the obtained score values S_(i) using the individual weight coefficients m_(i), as in equation (16), and outputs the obtained evaluation value H_(love) as an evaluation value to the image-capturing determining unit 204. The image-capturing determining unit 207 obtains an evaluation value H, using the following equation, on the basis of the evaluation value H_(pattern) indicating the degree of match with a position pattern, an angle pattern, or a position/angle pattern, which is obtained from the pattern detecting unit 203, and the degree of friendliness H_(love) output from the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 206: H=αH _(pattern) +βH _(love)  (22)

In the foregoing equation, α and β are weighting coefficients. The weighting coefficients α and β may be controlled in accordance with an image capturing mode, for example. A determination threshold for the evaluation value H may be controlled in accordance with, for example, H_(pattern), H_(love), attribute information parameters of detected faces, and image capturing mode (an image capturing mode in which the arrangement of photographic subjects is weighted heavily or an image capturing mode in which attributes of photographic subjects, such as degrees of smiling, are weighted heavily), a description of which is omitted.

If the evaluation value H exceeds a predetermined threshold, the image-capturing determining unit 207 determines whether to activate image capturing control such as determining of the shutter timing or setting of the self timer.

A third embodiment of the present invention will now be described. In the third embodiment, as in the above-described first embodiment, the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects is computed on the basis of the distance between detected faces, the degrees of smiling of the detected faces, and the inclinations of the detected faces. Furthermore, control is performed to display an animated cartoon on a display screen in accordance with the degree of friendliness. An animated cartoon to be displayed includes, for example, an animated cartoon for assisting the photographic subjects in performing an operation to shorten the distance between the photographic subjects or to enhance degrees of smiling, and an animated cartoon that visually represents the level of an evaluation value of the degree of friendliness at the image capturing timing.

FIG. 24 schematically illustrates a functional structure of a system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The system illustrated in FIG. 24 includes an image pickup unit 301, a camera control unit 302, a storage device 303, a face detecting unit 304, a face-attribute detecting unit 305, a display unit 306, a system control unit 307, an animation control unit 308, and a degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309.

The image pickup unit 301 includes the optical system 10, the image pickup device 11, and the like of the digital still camera 1 illustrated in FIG. 1. The camera control unit 302 is implemented by the cooperative operation of the AFE unit 12, the camera DSP unit 16, and the CPU 29. The storage device 303 corresponds to the memory device 24, the recording medium 26, or the like.

The face detecting unit 304 detects a face region in an image to be processed (such as a captured image written on the memory device 24). The face detecting unit 304 outputs, as the face detection result, the position (XY coordinates in the image) of the detected face of each photographic subject detected in the image, the size (width and height) of the detected face, and the posture (inclinations about the roll, pitch, and yaw rotation axes) of the detected face (the same as described above).

The face-attribute detecting unit 305 detects attribute information of each detected face detected by the face detecting unit 304 in an image to be processed. The attribute information stated here includes the degree of smiling, sex, age, and race of the detected face. The face-attribute detecting unit 305 outputs attribute values indicating these items of attribute information of each detected face (the same as described above).

Note that the processes performed with the face detecting unit 304 and the face-attribute detecting unit 305 may be implemented as software executed by the CPU 29, or may be implemented as internal or external dedicated hardware (processing engine).

The display unit 306 corresponds to the monitor display 25 and displays a captured image and a through image. Also, the display unit 306 displays an animated cartoon based on image capturing assisting information in accordance with the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects in a captured image (the same as described above).

The system control unit 307 is a function module that controls the overall operation of the entire system illustrated in FIG. 24. The system control unit 307 is implemented by the cooperative operation of the CPU 29, the memory control unit 20, the display control unit 21, the media control unit 22, and the like. Also, the system control unit 307 detects an image capturing timing on the basis of the evaluation result of the degree of friendliness, and controls the automatic shutter operation and the recording operation of content generated at the time of capturing an image onto the storage device 303.

When the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 obtains, via the system control unit 307, the position, size, and angle information of each detected face, which are output from the face detecting unit 304, and the degree of smiling and other face attribute information output from the face-attribute detecting unit 305, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 performs computing to represent the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects as an evaluation value H_(love) corresponding to the degree of friendliness. The processing procedure performed by the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 for computing the evaluation value H_(love) is as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 22, and a detailed description thereof is omitted. Also, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 outputs the evaluation result of the face attribute information in response to an attribute value evaluation request from the system control unit 307.

The animation control unit 308 controls displaying of an animated cartoon on a screen in accordance with the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects in a captured image. For example, when the evaluation result of the face attribute information is unsatisfactory, the animation control unit 308 controls displaying and outputting of an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon in response to a request from the system control unit 307. Also, when an image capturing timing is detected, the animation control unit 308 controls displaying and outputting of an animated cartoon that visually represents the level of the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness in response to a request from the system control unit 307.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 24.

The system control unit 307 reads detected data obtained by the face detecting unit 304 (step S31) and checks whether multiple faces have been detected (step S32). When the check result is affirmative, the system control unit 307 proceeds to a subsequent process for performing an image capturing determination.

Next, the system control unit 307 reads attribute information of each detected face from the face-attribute detecting unit 305 (step S33). The system control unit 307 sends the read attribute information to the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 and issues an attribute value evaluation request (step S34).

It is assumed that attribute values to be evaluated by the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 in response to the attribute value evaluation request are specifically the distance d between photographic subjects A and B and the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the photographic subjects A and B.

An evaluation value f1 of the distance between the photographic subjects is computed from the distance d between the photographic subjects (see FIG. 26A) as a function in accordance with a graph illustrated in FIG. 26B. Here, the distance d between the photographic subjects is computed from the above-described equation (4). Whether the sequentially measured distance d exceeds a threshold d_(threshold) is determined, and the value 0 or 1 is determined.

Evaluation values f2 and f3 of the degrees of smiling of the two photographic subjects A and B (see FIG. 27A) are computed from the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the attribute information, on the basis of a function in accordance with FIG. 27B. That is, the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the photographic subjects A and B are sequentially measured. Whether these degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) exceed a threshold S_(threshold) is determined, and the value 0 or 1 is determined.

In order to determine whether all the evaluation values f1, f2, and f3 of the attributes exceed the respective thresholds, the following function F is defined: F=f1·f2·f3  (23)

In step S35, when F=1, it is determined that the evaluation results of the attribute values satisfy a condition. When F=0, it is evaluated that the evaluation results of the attribute values do not satisfy the condition.

When the evaluation results of the attribute values are F=0 (NO in step S35), the system control unit 307 issues a request for the animation control unit 308 to display and output an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon (step S36). In response to this request, the animation control unit 308 displays and outputs, on the display unit 306, an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon (step S37).

When the attribute evaluation obtained as a return value for the attribute value request in step S34 is f1=0, that is, when the distance between the photographic subjects is too long, in step S37, an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon, such as that illustrated in FIG. 28, is displayed in order to cause the photographic subjects A and B to come closer to each other than they are now. The assisting information illustrated in FIG. 28 is disposed on the photographic subjects' shoulders whose positions are estimated from the sizes and positions of the faces of the photographic subjects.

Also, when the attribute evaluation obtained as a return value for the attribute value request in step S34 is f2=0 and/or f3=0, that is, when the photographic subject(s) is(are) not smiling, in step S37, an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon, such as that illustrated in FIG. 29, is displayed in order to cause the photographic subjects A and B to smile more than they do now. The assisting information illustrated in FIG. 29 is disposed on the top of the heads of the photographic subjects, the positions of the heads being estimated from the positions of the faces of the photographic subjects with low degrees of smiling.

Next, the system control unit 307 issues a request for the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 to compute an evaluation value (step S38). In response to this, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 computes an evaluation value indicating the degree of intimacy between the photographic subjects, that is, the degree of friendliness H_(love), on the basis of the attribute information of the detected faces. When two photographic subjects are beside each other so that their faces are directed to and close to each other and the degrees of smiling of their faces are high, it is determined that the degree of friendliness is high, and image capturing control is performed. The degree-of-friendliness computing process is executed in accordance with the processing procedure illustrated in FIG. 4 or 22 (the same as described above).

Next, the system control unit 307 issues a request for the animation control unit 308 to output an evaluation-value animated cartoon (step S39). In response to this request, the animation control unit 308 displays and outputs, on the display unit 306, an evaluation-value animated cartoon that visually represents the level of the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness at the image capturing timing (step S40).

The evaluation-value animated cartoon is based on assisting information that represents, with respect to a threshold, the level of the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness, by using the number of icons or the color of icons, such as heart marks that imply the intimacy. FIG. 30 illustrates a display example of assisting information when the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness is low. In this case, the number of icons is small, and the icons are scattered. At the same time, the color of the icons is pale and fading. FIG. 31 illustrates a display example of assisting information when the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness is high. In this case, the number of icons is great, and the color of the icons is clear and vivid. Furthermore, the icons are arranged in the shape of, for example, a heart mark. The degree of friendliness between photographic subjects can be represented by using an animated cartoon such as the assisting information illustrated in the drawings, that is, icons whose number and color are changeable.

Next, the system control unit 307 checks whether the evaluation value H_(love), which is a return value from the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 309 in response to the evaluation value computing request in step S38, exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S41). When the evaluation value H_(love) does not exceed the predetermined threshold (NO in step S41), the flow returns to step S31, and the procedure is repeated from the process of detecting faces in the captured image.

In contrast, when the evaluation value H_(love) exceeds the predetermined threshold (YES in step S41), the system control unit 307 instructs the camera control unit 302 to capture an image (step S42). Specifically, the CPU 29 issues an instruction for the driver 10 a to control the shutter (or timing of the self timer setting).

A fourth embodiment of the present invention will now be described. In the fourth embodiment, as in the above-described first embodiment, the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects is computed on the basis of the distance between detected faces, the degrees of smiling, and the inclinations of the detected faces. Furthermore, a human relationship between the photographic subjects is determined by performing statistical processing of the evaluation values of the degree of friendliness over a predetermined degree-of-friendliness determining period. For example, a decoration in accordance with the determined human relationship between the photographic subjects may be added to the captured image. The determined human relationship between the photographic subjects may be recorded as additional information such as Exif of the captured image.

FIG. 32 schematically illustrates a functional structure of a system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The system illustrated in FIG. 32 includes an image pickup unit 401, a camera control unit 402, a storage device 403, a face detecting unit 404, a face-attribute detecting unit 405, a display unit 406, a system control unit 407, an animation control unit 408, a degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409, and a human-relationship determining unit 410.

The image pickup unit 401 includes the optical system 10, the image pickup device 11, and the like of the digital still camera 1 illustrated in FIG. 1. The camera control unit 402 is implemented by the cooperative operation of the AFE unit 12, the camera DSP unit 16, and the CPU 29. The storage device 403 corresponds to the memory device 24, the recording medium 26, or the like.

The face detecting unit 404 detects a face region in an image to be processed (such as a captured image written on the memory device 24). The face detecting unit 404 outputs, as the face detection result, the position (XY coordinates in the image) of the detected face of each photographic subject detected in the image, the size (width and height) of the detected face, and the posture (inclinations about the roll, pitch, and yaw rotation axes) of the detected face (the same as described above).

The face-attribute detecting unit 405 detects attribute information of each detected face detected by the face detecting unit 304 in an image to be processed. The attribute information stated here includes the degree of smiling, sex, age, and race of the detected face. The face-attribute detecting unit 405 outputs attribute values indicating these items of attribute information of each detected face (the same as described above).

Note that the processes performed with the face detecting unit 404 and the face-attribute detecting unit 405 may be implemented as software executed by the CPU 29, or may be implemented as internal or external dedicated hardware (processing engine).

The display unit 406 corresponds to the monitor display 25 and displays a captured image and a through image. Also, the display unit 406 displays an animated cartoon based on image capturing assisting information in accordance with the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects in a captured image (the same as described above).

The system control unit 407 is a function module that controls the overall operation of the entire system illustrated in FIG. 32. The system control unit 407 is implemented by the cooperative operation of the CPU 29, the memory control unit 20, the display control unit 21, the media control unit 22, and the like. Also, the system control unit 407 detects an image capturing timing on the basis of the evaluation result of the degree of friendliness, and controls the automatic shutter operation and the recording operation of content generated at the time of capturing an image onto the storage device 403.

When the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 obtains, via the system control unit 407, the position, size, and angle information of each detected face, which are output from the face detecting unit 404, and the degree of smiling and other face attribute information output from the face-attribute detecting unit 405, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 performs computing to represent the degree of intimacy between photographic subjects as an evaluation value H_(love) corresponding to the degree of friendliness (the same as described above). The processing procedure performed by the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 for computing the evaluation value H_(love) is as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 22, and a detailed description thereof is omitted. Also, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 outputs the evaluation result of the face attribute information in response to an attribute value evaluation request from the system control unit 407.

The animation control unit 408 controls displaying of an animated cartoon on a screen in accordance with the degree of friendliness between photographic subjects in a captured image. For example, when the evaluation result of the face attribute information is unsatisfactory, the animation control unit 408 controls displaying and outputting of an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon. Also, when an image capturing timing is detected, the animation control unit 408 controls displaying and outputting of an animated cartoon that visually represents the level of the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness (the same as described above).

The human-relationship determining unit 410 determines a human relationship between the photographic subjects by performing statistical processing of the evaluation values H_(love) of the degree of friendliness between the photographic subjects that are computed over a predetermined degree-of-friendliness determining period. As an example of statistical processing, a human relationship is determined on the basis of the level of the time average of the evaluation values H_(love) of the degree of friendliness over the degree-of-friendliness computing period, the difference in sex of the photographic subjects, and the like. The determination method will be described in detail later.

FIGS. 33A and 33B are flowcharts illustrating a processing procedure for performing image capturing control on the basis of the correlation between face recognition parameters of individual photographic subjects in the system illustrated in FIG. 32.

The system control unit 407 reads detected data obtained by the face detecting unit 404 (step S51) and checks whether multiple faces have been detected (step S52).

When multiple faces are not detected, that is, when multiple photographic subjects are not present in the captured image (NO in step S52), the system control unit 407 further checks the time elapsed since there have been no multiple photographic subjects (step S53). When the elapsed time is less than or equal to a threshold, the flow returns to step S51. When the elapsed time exceeds the threshold, the system control unit 407 initializes a variable or the like (step S54), and the flow returns to step S51.

In contrast, when there are multiple photographic subjects in the captured image (YES in step S52), the system control unit 407 proceeds to a subsequent stage for performing an image capturing determination.

In the image capturing determination process, the system control unit 407 reads attribute information of each detected face from the face-attribute detecting unit 405 (step S55). The system control unit 407 sends the read attribute information to the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 and issues an attribute value evaluation request (step S56).

It is assumed that attribute values to be evaluated by the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 in response to the attribute value evaluation request are specifically the distance d between photographic subjects A and B and the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the photographic subjects A and B. An evaluation value f1 of the distance between the photographic subjects is computed from the distance d between the photographic subjects (see FIG. 26A) as a function in accordance with the graph illustrated in FIG. 26B. The distance d between the photographic subjects is computed using the above-described equation (4). Whether the sequentially measured distance d exceeds a threshold d_(threshold) is determined, and the value 0 or 1 is determined.

Evaluation values f2 and f3 of the degrees of smiling of the two photographic subjects A and B (see FIG. 27A) are computed from the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the attribute information, on the basis of a function in accordance with FIG. 27B. That is, the degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) of the photographic subjects A and B are sequentially measured. Whether these degrees of smiling S_(a) and S_(b) exceed a threshold S_(threshold) is determined, and the value 0 or 1 is determined. Whether all the evaluation values f1, f2, and f3 of the attributes exceed the respective thresholds is determined by using the function F indicated as equation (23).

When the evaluation results of the attribute values are F=0 (NO in step S57), the system control unit 407 issues a request for the animation control unit 408 to display and output an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon (step S58). In response to this request, the animation control unit 408 displays and outputs, on the display unit 406, an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon (step S59). Specifically, when the attribute evaluation obtained as a return value for the attribute value request in step S56 is f1=0, that is, when the distance between the photographic subjects is too long, in step S59, an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon (see FIG. 28) is displayed in order to cause the photographic subjects A and B to come closer to each other than they are now (the same as described above). Also, when the attribute evaluation obtained as a return value for the attribute value request in step S56 is f2=0 and/or f3=0, that is, when the photographic subject(s) is(are) not smiling, in step S59, an image-capturing-assisting animated cartoon (see FIG. 29) is displayed in order to cause the photographic subjects A and B to smile more than they do now (the same as described above).

Next, the system control unit 407 issues a request for the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 to compute an evaluation value (step S60). In response to this, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 computes an evaluation value indicating the degree of intimacy between the photographic subjects, that is, the degree of friendliness H_(love), on the basis of the attribute information of the detected faces. When two photographic subjects are beside each other so that their faces are directed to and close to each other and the degrees of smiling of their faces are high, it is determined that the degree of friendliness is high, and image capturing control is performed. The degree-of-friendliness computing process is executed in accordance with the processing procedure illustrated in FIG. 4 or 22 (the same as described above).

Next, the system control unit 407 issues a request for the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 to determine the level of friendliness (step S61). In response to this, the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 computes the time average of the evaluation values H_(love) of the degree of friendliness, that are momentarily computed over a predetermined friendliness-level determining period, using the following equation (24) (where T is the duration of the friendliness-level determining period), and quantizes the obtained time average using the following equation (25) and a quantization function Q such as that indicated in FIG. 34, thereby obtaining a friendliness level L that takes one of three levels from 0 to 2. The degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 sends the obtained friendliness level L as a return value to the system control unit 407.

$\begin{matrix} {{\overset{\_}{H}}_{love} = {\frac{1}{T}{\int_{0}^{T}{{H_{love}(t)}\ {\mathbb{d}t}}}}} & (24) \\ {L = {Q\left( {\overset{\_}{H}}_{love} \right)}} & (25) \end{matrix}$

After starting this processing routine or initializing the variable in step S54, the system control unit 407 can obtain the friendliness level L between the photographic subjects in the captured image when the friendliness-level determining period has elapsed (YES in step S62). On the basis of the obtained friendliness level L, the system control unit 407 can determine parameters to be used in the further process. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 35, for example, in accordance with the quantized friendliness level L, the system control unit 407 determines a threshold to be used in determining an image capturing timing and the type of icon to be used as assisting information for displaying an animated cartoon.

Next, the system control unit 307 issues a request for the animation control unit 308 to output an evaluation-value animated cartoon (step S63). In response to this request, the animation control unit 308 displays and outputs, on the display unit 306, an evaluation-value animated cartoon that visually represents the level of the evaluation value H_(love) of the degree of friendliness at the image capturing timing (step S64). For the details of the evaluation-value animated cartoon, please see the foregoing description and FIGS. 30 and 31. As the assisting information in the animated cartoon, for example, a reference is made to the table illustrated in FIG. 35, and the type of icon corresponding to the friendliness level L is used.

Next, the system control unit 407 checks whether the evaluation value H_(love), which is a return value from the degree-of-friendliness computing unit 409 in response to the evaluation value computing request in step S60, exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S65). As the threshold, for example, a reference is made to the table illustrated in FIG. 35, and the value corresponding to the friendliness level L is used. When the evaluation value H_(love) does not exceed the predetermined threshold (NO in step S65), the flow returns to step S51, and the procedure is repeated from the process of detecting faces in the captured image.

In contrast, when the evaluation value H_(love) exceeds the predetermined threshold (YES in step S65), the system control unit 407 instructs the camera control unit 402 to capture an image (step S66). As is clear from the table illustrated in FIG. 35, the duration until the automatic image capturing is activated can be controlled in accordance with the friendliness level between the photographic subjects. Specifically, the CPU 29 issues an instruction for the driver 10 a to control the shutter (or timing of the self timer setting).

Next, the system control unit 407 issues a human-relationship computing request for the human-relationship determining unit 410 (step S67). In response to this, the human-relationship determining unit 410 determines a human relationship between the photographic subjects on the basis of, for example, the combination of the sexes (same sex or opposite sexes) of the photographic subjects, which are detected by the face-attribute detecting unit 405, and the friendliness level L. The correspondence of the human relationship to the sexes of the photographic subjects and the friendliness level L is summarized in Table 5 below. FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for determining the human relationship between photographic subjects by using the human-relationship determining unit 410 in accordance with Table 5.

TABLE 5 Same Sex/ Different Friendliness Sexes Level Human Relationship Same Sex 2 Human Relationship A (Good Friends) 1 Human Relationship C (Friends) 0 Human Relationship E (Know each other) Different 2 Human Relationship B (Lovers) Sexes 1 Human Relationship D (More than friends but not quite lovers) 0 Human Relationship F (Desperate)

The system control unit 407 instructs the camera control unit 402 to superimpose (overlay) a decoration in accordance with the human relationship between the photographic subjects onto a JPEG-encoded captured image (step S68). The system control unit 407 gives an instruction to write a character string describing the human relationship between the photographic subjects as meta-information into Exif of the JPEG image (step S69). Note that the gist of the present invention is not limited to a specific form of a decoration for a captured image or a specific method of saving a human relationship.

The present invention has been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments. However, it is clear that modifications or substitutions can be made to the embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention.

In the present specification, the embodiments applied to a digital still camera have been mainly described. However, the gist of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to various information devices, such as a digital video camera with a function of capturing a still image, a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (PDA) with a digital camera function, a notebook computer, and a computer externally connected to a digital camera.

In short, the present invention has been disclosed by way of examples, and the disclosure in this specification should not be construed as limiting. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they are within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An image capturing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means evaluates the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means.
 2. An image capturing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; arrangement evaluating means for evaluating a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting a second evaluation value representing the evaluation result; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the second evaluation value, wherein the arrangement evaluating means is configured to perform a comparative calculation on the positions of the detected faces with a position pattern in which two or more detected faces are aligned at the same height or three or more detected faces are arranged on a substantially straight line to obtain the second evaluation value.
 3. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: face-attribute detecting means for detecting items of attribute information of the detected faces; and degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between the plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness, wherein the image-capturing determining means determines the timing to capture the input image based on the first and second evaluation values.
 4. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the arrangement evaluating means is configured to perform a comparative calculation on the correlation between the positions or the angles of the detected faces with a predetermined position pattern, a predetermined angle pattern, or a predetermined position/angle pattern based on a combination of positions and angles to obtain the second evaluation value based on a comparison result obtained with one or all of the patterns.
 5. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the arrangement evaluating means uses the position pattern, the angle pattern, or the position/angle pattern indicating that the detected faces are arranged such that a photograph with a sense of togetherness is easily captured or the detected faces are arranged to imply that the plurality of photographic subjects are good friends.
 6. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the arrangement evaluating means is configured to perform a comparative calculation with an angle pattern in which two detected faces face inward or multiple detected faces face a certain direction in obtaining the second evaluation value.
 7. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, further comprising; velocity computing means for computing velocities at which positions of the detected faces change with time or angular-velocity computing means for computing angular velocities at which angles of the detected faces change with time, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means evaluates the degree of friendliness by further taking into consideration the velocities or the angular velocities of the detected faces.
 8. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means evaluates the degree of friendliness based on a distance between the detected faces, a difference between inclinations of the detected faces, and degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means.
 9. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image-capturing determining means determines the timing to capture the input image based on an evaluation value H obtained by a weighted calculation of the first and second evaluation values.
 10. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of image capturing modes is provided, and wherein the image-capturing determining means determines respective weights α and β for the first and second evaluation values in accordance with a current image capturing mode.
 11. An image capturing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; arrangement evaluating means for evaluating a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting a second evaluation value representing the evaluation result; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the second evaluation value, wherein the arrangement evaluating means is configured to perform a comparative calculation with a position pattern based on a polygon having positions of three or more detected faces as vertices, and obtains the second evaluation value.
 12. An image capturing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; arrangement evaluating means for evaluating a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting a second evaluation value representing the evaluation result; image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the second evaluation value; face-attribute detecting means for detecting items of attribute information of the detected faces; and degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between the plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness, wherein the image-capturing determining means determines the timing to capture the input image based on the first and second evaluation values, and wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means evaluates the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means.
 13. An image capturing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; arrangement evaluating means for evaluating a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting a second evaluation value representing the evaluation result; image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the second evaluation value; face-attribute detecting means for detecting items of attribute information of the detected faces; and degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between the plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness, wherein the image-capturing determining means determines the timing to capture the input image based on the first and second evaluation values, and wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means performs a weighted calculation of a distance between the detected faces, a difference between inclinations of the detected faces, and degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and evaluates the degree of friendliness.
 14. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising velocity computing means for computing velocities at which the positions of the detected faces change with time in the input image, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means determines a weight for the distance between the detected faces based on the moving velocities of the detected faces and attribute information detected by the face-attribute detecting means, the attribute information excluding the degrees of smiling.
 15. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means determines a weight for the distance between the detected faces by taking into consideration sexes and ages detected by the face-attribute detecting means from the detected faces.
 16. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising angular-velocity computing means for computing angular velocities at which the angles of the detected faces change with time in the input image, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means determines a weight for the difference between inclinations of the detected faces based on the angular velocities of the detected faces.
 17. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means determines weights for the degrees of smiling of the detected faces based on attribute information detected by the face-attribute detecting means, the attribute information excluding the degrees of smiling.
 18. An image capturing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; display means for displaying the input image on a screen; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; animation control means for controlling an animated cartoon to be displayed on the screen of the display means in accordance with the level of the first evaluation value; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value.
 19. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means evaluates the degree of friendliness based on a distance between the detected faces and degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and wherein the animation control means controls displaying, on the screen, of an animated cartoon for assisting the plurality of photographic subjects in performing an operation to shorten the distance between the plurality of photographic subjects or to enhance the degrees of smiling, in a case where the first evaluation value does not reach a predetermined threshold.
 20. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the animation control means controls displaying, on the screen, of an animated cartoon that visually represents the level of the first evaluation value, in a case where the first evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold and the image-capturing determining means determines the timing to capture the input image.
 21. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising human-relationship determining means for determining a human relationship between the plurality of photographic subjects by performing statistical processing of evaluation values output from the degree-of-friendliness computing means over a predetermined degree-of-friendliness determining period.
 22. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 21, further comprising decoration adding means for adding, to a captured image, a decoration in accordance with the human relationship between the plurality of photographic subjects, the human relationship being determined by the human-relationship determining means.
 23. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 21, further comprising additional-information recording means for recording the human relationship between the plurality of photographic subjects, the human relationship being determined by the human-relationship determining means, as additional information of a captured image.
 24. An image capturing method for performing image capturing control by using a computer, comprising the steps of: detecting, by using face detecting means included in the computer, a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; detecting, by using face-attribute detecting means included in the computer, attribute information of the detected face; evaluating, by using degree-of-friendliness computing means included in the computer, a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected in the step of detecting attribute information, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; and determining, by using image-capturing determining means included in the computer, a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value H_(love), wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means, in the evaluating the degree of friendliness, evaluates the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means in the detecting the attribute information of the detected face.
 25. An image capturing method for performing image capturing control by using a computer, comprising the steps of: detecting, by using face detecting means included in the computer, a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; detecting, by using face-attribute detecting means included in the computer, attribute information of the detected face; evaluating, by using arrangement evaluating means included in the computer, a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting a second evaluation value representing the evaluation result; evaluating, by using degree-of-friendliness computing means included in the computer, a degree of friendliness between the plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces, the items of attribute information being detected in the step of detecting attribute information, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; and determining, by using image-capturing determining means included in the computer, a timing to capture the input image based on the first and second evaluation values, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means, in the evaluating the degree of friendliness, evaluates the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means in the detecting the attribute information.
 26. An image capturing method for performing image capturing control by using a computer, comprising the steps of: detecting, by using face detecting means included in the computer, a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; detecting, by using face-attribute detecting means included in the computer, attribute information of the detected face; evaluating, by using degree-of-friendliness computing means included in the computer, a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected in the step of detecting attribute information, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; controlling, by using animation control means included in the computer, an animated cartoon to be displayed on a screen in accordance with the level of the first evaluation value; and determining, by using image-capturing determining means included in the computer, a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value.
 27. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a computer program written thereon to execute processing for performing image capturing control by using a computer, the computer program causing the computer to function as: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means evaluates the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means.
 28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a computer program written thereon to execute processing for performing image capturing control by using a computer, the computer program causing the computer to function as: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; arrangement evaluating means for evaluating a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting a second evaluation value representing the evaluation result; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between the plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of the detected faces, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the first and second evaluation values, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing means evaluates the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting means.
 29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a computer program written thereon to execute processing for performing image capturing control by using a computer, the computer program causing the computer to function as: image input means for inputting an image to be captured; display means for displaying the input image on a screen; face detecting means for detecting a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; face-attribute detecting means for detecting attribute information of the detected face; degree-of-friendliness computing means for evaluating a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting means, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; animation control means for controlling an animated cartoon to be displayed on the screen of the display means in accordance with the level of the first evaluation value; and image-capturing determining means for determining a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value.
 30. An image capturing apparatus comprising: an image input unit configured to input an image to be captured; a face detecting unit configured to detect a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; a face-attribute detecting unit configured to detect attribute information of the detected face; a degree-of-friendliness computing unit configured to evaluate a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting unit, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; and an image-capturing determining unit configured to determine a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value, wherein the degree-of-friendliness computing unit is configured to evaluate the degree of friendliness by taking into consideration degrees of smiling of the detected faces, the degrees of smiling being detected by the face-attribute detecting unit.
 31. An image capturing apparatus comprising: an image input unit configured to input an image to be captured; a face detecting unit configured to detect a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; an arrangement evaluating unit configured to evaluate a correlation between positions or angles of detected faces of a plurality of photographic subjects, and outputting a second evaluation value representing the evaluation result; and an image-capturing determining unit configured to determine a timing to capture the input image based on the second evaluation value, wherein the arrangement evaluating unit is configured to perform a comparative calculation on the positions of the detected faces with a position pattern in which two or more detected faces are aligned at the same height or three or more detected faces are arranged on a substantially straight line to obtain the second evaluation value.
 32. An image capturing apparatus comprising: an image input unit configured to input an image to be captured; a display unit configured to display the input image on a screen; a face detecting unit configured to detect a face of at least one photographic subject included in the input image; a face-attribute detecting unit configured to detect attribute information of the detected face; a degree-of-friendliness computing unit configured to evaluate a degree of friendliness between a plurality of photographic subjects based on a correlation between items of attribute information of detected faces of the plurality of photographic subjects, the items of attribute information being detected by the face-attribute detecting unit, and outputting a first evaluation value representing the degree of friendliness; an animation control unit configured to control an animated cartoon to be displayed on the screen of the display unit in accordance with the level of the first evaluation value; and an image-capturing determining unit configured to determine a timing to capture the input image based on the first evaluation value. 